National Republican., 1887-04-04

to 60 by railroad time, and that ia pretty
well understood in all our communities.
There is one hymn that ought to be sung
In a great many Christian families on
Sabbath mornings:
EARLY, my God, without delay,
haste to seek Thy place.
Another characteristic OF live church is
the fact that all the people participate In
the exercises. A stranger can tell by the
way the first tune starts whether there is
any life there. A church that does not sing
is dead church. 1t is awful to find a cold
drizzle Of music coming down from the
organ loft, while all the people beneath sit
In silence. When tune wanders around,
lonely and unbefriended, and is finally lost
amid the arches because the people do not
join In 1t, there Is not much melody made
unite the Lord. In heaven they all sing,
though some there can not sing half as we'll
as others. The Methodist Church has sung
all around the world, and gone from con-
quest to conquest, among other things,
because 1t is a singing church; and any
thusiasm perform this part Of its duty will
go on from triumph to triumph A church
OF God that can sing, can do anything that
ought to be done. We go forth into this
holy war with the Bible In one hand and a
hymn book In the other. U! We who used to
sing the praises OF the Lord, and
have got out OF the habit, take your harps
down from the willows. am glad to know
that, as church. we are making advance
ment in this respect. When came to be
your pastor we had an excellent choir in
the little chapel, and they sang very sweetly
to us Sabbath by Sabbath; but ever and
anon there was trouble, for you know that
the choirs In the United States are the
Waterloos where the great battles 90 on.
One Sunday they will sing like angels, and
the next they will be mad, and will not sing
at all. We resolved to settle all the difficult.
ties, and have one skillful man at the organ,
and one man TO do the work of precentor;
and now, from Sabbath to Sabbath, the
song comes up like the voice OF mighty
thunderings,
Let those refuse to sing
Who never knew our God:
But children OF the Heavenly King
Should speak their joys abroad.
On the way to triumph that never ends
and pleasures that never die-sing
Another charac teristic of a live church Is
a fiourishing Sabbath school. 1t is too late
in the history of the Christian church 10
argue the benefit of such an institution.
The Sabbath school is not a supplement to
the church, 1t is its right arm. But you say
there are dead churches that haye Sabbath
| schools. Yes; but the Sabbath schools are
dead too. 1t is a dead mother holding IN
her arms dead child. But when superin-
tendept, and teachers, and scholars come
on Sabbath afternoons together, their faces
glowing with interest and enthusiasm, and
| their songs are heard all through the exer.
cises, and at the close they go away feeling
they have been on the Mount Of Transtgu
ration, that Is live school, and 1t is char
acteristic Of live church. There is only
one thing have against the Sabbath SCHOOL,
OF this country, and that is they are too re
spectacle. We gather into our schools tn,
children OF the refined and the cultured
and the educated; but alas! for the grea
multitude Of the children of the abandoned
and the lost A few OF them are gath
what about the seventy Thousand
destitute children OF New York and tn,
score OF thousands OF destitute children O
Brooklyn, around whom are thrown M
benign, and heavenly, and Christian In
huences 1t is tremendous qnestioI
what is to become OF the destitute children
of these citiesP We must either act OF
them or they will act on u.s. We will
either Chrlstianize them or they will
heathenize us. 1t Is a question not NOR
for the Christian than for the philanthropi
and the statesman. on II we could hav
all these suffering little ones gathered TO
gether, what scene of hunger, AM
wretchedness, and rags, and sin, an
trouble, and darkness, II we could Sc
those little feet on the broad road to death
which through Christian charity ought I
depressing the.narrow path OF life (; II W
could hear those voices In blasphemy
which ought to be singing the praises 0
God; II could see'those little hearts, whic
at that age ought MOTTO be soiled with on
| unclean thought, becoming the sewers 10
every abominatlon; II could see thos
suffering little ones sacrificed on the alta
| OF every Ubiquitous passion, and baptize
with FIRE from the lava OF the pit, we woul
I recoil, crying out; "Avaunt, thou dreaI